Notice the slit in the middle of the "R" and how it goes right into the middle of the letter :

The Prada shoes, belt, and jacket that I have purchased locally from Holt Renfrew and Harry Rosen bear the correct text font as shown above. The Prada sunglasses I have purchased from Sunglasses Hut (Luxxotica) also bear the same logo on the inside of the arms.

However, the Prada sunglasses (4 of them) that I purchased from a reputable seller on Ebay who claims all her products are "100% authentic" (I know what you are thinking, Ebay fake probably. Please read on though) have a ever so slight difference in the "Prada" text on the inside arms. It looks like this:

Notice the "R" and the lack of a line cutting to the middle:

The eye glasses that I bought from a local optical store bears the same text style as the Ebay "100% authentic" on the inside band. All of the similar optical stores carry the same logos on their Prada glasses. They claim to be authorized by Luxxotica Canada and order through them, and there is even a serial number of each Prada glasses to confirm the store.

Now my question. I don't question the "100% authenticity" claim of the optical store's and the Ebay sellers products. I believe that they were indeed produced in Luxxotica's plant in Italy, however were they also "authorized" to produce these "extra" models? Are these Prada models considered "grey" market, "authentic but unuathorized", "slightly defective", or even fake productions?

The glasses come in the Prada boxes with tags and all that (even with barcodes from Luxxotica Group).

Also I would like to note that the Prada glasses in question are usually priced half of what genuine authorized retailers (i.e. Sunglasses Hut, Holt Renfrew) price at.

My guess is these are authentic, produced in the same plant in Italy using the same material, but are "extras" that were not authorized to be produced.

I would but my camera can't zoom into the Prada text without becoming blurry. I assure you though the logos appear exactly as described above.

Luxxotica Canada e-mailed me back about the same inquiry. Luxxotica said the optical store in question is indeed authorized to sell the Prada glasses and are buying their supply through them. The service rep said "logo may vary by style". However this leads me to believe Luxxotica themselves aren't doing a consistent job producing the logos, as I doubt Prada would change the "R" in their logo over a few styles of sunglasses.

My Prada sunglasses dont have the little nitch in the R and i bought mine from Saks.

Hmm that's interesting. In my last post I mentioned the Luxxotica rep e-mailed me back and said the logo may be different depending on the model. However, I responded and asked the rep why would the logos be different (nitch in R - with and without) on the exact same models bought at the different stores? I further asked if this is a result of inconsistent production by Luxxotica. Have not received a response (2 days already) while the first e-mail transaction took less than half a day....

Is it a printed part or something that is stamped or etched into metal or plastic/leather? On mine, all the "stamped" parts clearly show the indentation on the R, but the printed part in the case still has some silver in the R part that looks like it is not suppose to be there, like in one of the As where the triangle part looks a bit filled in.